Favorite Home Blend Recipes?

[dottlejockey]

I tend to make large jars of home blends when there are several tobaccos of a certain ilk that I just don't tend to reach for often enough and mix in other bulk blending components to add whatever might be missing from the batch, once blended. The goal is to take several uninteresting (to me) products and turn them into something I will smoke more regularly.

Many of those are too complex to list, however, there are a couple things I have blended over the years and enjoyed quite a lot as a mix. One of my go to favorites is a 50-50 blend of Peterson's Irish Flake and SG Bracken Flake, rubbed out and evenly incorporated. One of my local pipe buddies pressed some of this together and aged it, which was also a nice twist on this variant.

Do any of you have any home recipes like this that you enjoy on a regular basis?

 

[huntertrw]

I am fond of the late Shelby Foote's preferred blend: 2/3rds Edward G. Robinson's Pipe Blend and 1/3rd "rough cut." For the latter I typically use Grainger. Mix thoroughly, and then let the mixture marry for a while. It's good!

 

[proteus]

American Virginia flue 42% izmir 15% and Samsun 15% Brightleaf Flue High sugar 20% with 8% genuine St James perique. This is an Oriental. Make the VA flue and sweet VA 25/10 and bring up the perique to 25 for my VA Per with a bit of spice. I also remove some of the Turkish and replace with Fronto for added robustness. I take one hand of each and divide. Case Virginia with 5% sugar water, bake 175 90 minutes and then steam the sweet a bit but don't Cavendish it. Blend each leaf interleaved by proportion and press at 50psi for 18 days. Stoe plugs until ready to use and then flake and rub.

 

[dottlejockey]

American Virginia flue 42% izmir 15% and Samsun 15% Brightleaf Flue High sugar 20% with 8% genuine St James perique. This is an Oriental. Make the VA flue and sweet VA 25/10 and bring up the perique to 25 for my VA Per with a bit of spice. I also remove some of the Turkish and replace with Fronto for added robustness. I take one hand of each and divide. Case Virginia with 5% sugar water, bake 175 90 minutes and then steam the sweet a bit but don't Cavendish it. Blend each leaf interleaved by proportion and press at 50psi for 18 days. Stoe plugs until ready to use and then flake and rub.

Very cool! I've never gone this far, YET. I've seen some videos of people working with whole leaf. Super intrigued...

 

[dottlejockey]

Last night, after having explored many of the Peretti blends i recently picked up, i separated out the few that smoked well enough to enjoy as is. These were Cuban Mixture, Blend 111 and No. 8 Slices. As for the rest of them, since they were all either burley or VA, i figured it was time for a new home blend mix.

I crushed and partially rubbed out most of the cube cut particles for easier incorporation, then blended the VA and Burley components. It had good flavor, but was a little light, so i decided to add some depth and body to the profile. Mac Baren's Bold Kentucky fit the bill here. After that sample i wanted a little more strength to create a satisfying smoke, so Mac Baren's Rustica was the choice. Turned out a little hot, so i threw in some SPC Down Yonder to fluff it back out again with some stoved VA.

This is what i finally settled on:

1 oz - 150th Anniversary
1 oz - Boston Slices
1 oz - Blend W
1 oz - Burley Plug Cut
1 oz - 333
2 oz - SPC Down Yonder
1 1/2 oz - MB Bold Kentucky
3/4 oz - MB Rustica

A final test in the clay told me i had arrived.



So today was the day to give it a real run, since last night's sample was just that. Put it to the meer test late this morning, for my 3rd bowl of the day and found a new option in the lineup. Looking forward to repeat smokes after a few weeks in the jar.



This is very typical of my blending process as described in the original post. Taking a bunch of less-than-exciting tobaccos and blending them into something that will intrigue me enough to load em up as part of the regular rotation. This one turned out great. Looking forward to the next bowl.

 

[Tony1958]

American Virginia flue 42% izmir 15% and Samsun 15% Brightleaf Flue High sugar 20% with 8% genuine St James perique. This is an Oriental. Make the VA flue and sweet VA 25/10 and bring up the perique to 25 for my VA Per with a bit of spice. I also remove some of the Turkish and replace with Fronto for added robustness. I take one hand of each and divide. Case Virginia with 5% sugar water, bake 175 90 minutes and then steam the sweet a bit but don't Cavendish it. Blend each leaf interleaved by proportion and press at 50psi for 18 days. Stoe plugs until ready to use and then flake and rub.

I see that you have 15% Samsun. Could you tell me where you got the Samsun? I searched with three vendors—Smokingpipes, pipes and cigars and 4 noggins. None of them have it. Thanks

 

[proteus]

I see that you have 15% Samsun. Could you tell me where you got the Samsun? I searched with three vendors—Smokingpipes, pipes and cigars and 4 noggins. None of them have it. Thanks

Not sure where your from. Why not introduce yourself in the new member section?

Try leafonly.com

They are 10 mins from me. I just go down and load up my trunk. Not sure if you can order from there given your location.

 

[Tony1958]

Not sure where your from. Why not introduce yourself in the new member section?

Try leafonly.com

They are 10 mins from me. I just go down and load up my trunk. Not sure if you can order from there given your location.

 

[Tony1958]

Thanks for replying. I live in Atlanta. I went to the link you gave me but they only have leaf. I have never dealt with leaf. I haven’t a clue about it.
I make my own blends but use tobacco supplied by the usual vendors on the web.

I would gladly put something about myself in the new member section, if I can find it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

50% Red Virginias
20% Yenidje
20% Samsun
10% Perique

Infused with Mango essence, I call it Mihrimah.

 

[hoipolloiglasgow]

I like mixing in small amounts of Gawith and Hoggarth Dark Flake Scented (10-20%) with Gl Pease Englishes. At first, I did it to see how it adds strength and to see how the licorice topping would be with latakia. As it turns out it's extremely good.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

515 RC from Sutliff with 10% Perique

 

[dottlejockey]

Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Always interesting to see what others do.
I've usually blended out of necessity (salvage savvy). It's less often that i blend just for the sake of creating something new, tho i have done it here and there for fun.

 

[OzPiper]

Just odds and sods that are insufficient for a bowl - thrown together in a jar.
Load up when there is sufficient for a bowl or two

Beats smoking dottle from a turkish slipper

I've tried making a few home blends.
I will definitely keep my day job

 

[Sobrbiker]

See my Irish Flake Match attempt thread. That’s the best I’ve done so far, but I mix stuff all the time.

I really like what’s in my Odds and Ends jar too-just the stuff left from jarring tins and breaking up flakes. All the little bits go in that jar and there’s usually 1-2oz in there smoke from throughout the week when I can’t decide.

 

[proteus]

Thanks for replying. I live in Atlanta. I went to the link you gave me but they only have leaf. I have never dealt with leaf. I haven’t a clue about it.
I make my own blends but use tobacco supplied by the usual vendors on the web.

I would gladly put something about myself in the new member section, if I can find it.

Oh ok...I only use whole leaf for my blends.

 

[1stPersonSmoker]

I'm not normally into things with toppings or non-tobacco flavors but:

50% Peter Stokebye Luxury Twist Flake (rubbed out vigorously)
75% Sutliff Aged Maduro Black Cavendish
25% bulk C&D chopped cigar leaf

I've been addicted to this for like a week, different people might like it in different proportions and the star is the Peter Stokebye but this cavendish is topped with mild chocolate and vanilla that adds to the vanilla in the twist flake and makes the smoke "fuller" and gives a good mouth-feel. The cigar leaf kind of brings it back from the sweetness and adds an earth note.
You have to sacrifice a little flavor to get it going but it stays lit and when you get a good cherry smoldering it smokes cool and tastes so good when you smoke it slow.
I have worked on a few other blends trying to make my own high nic virginia burley but it's not quite the final form yet.
This thread was a good read

 

[dottlejockey]

50% Peter Stokebye Luxury Twist Flake (rubbed out vigorously)
75% Sutliff Aged Maduro Black Cavendish
25% bulk C&D chopped cigar leaf

Interesting maths...
I'm guessing you mean
2 parts PS LTF
3 parts Sutliff
1 part cig leaf

It's been quite a long time since i've had LTF.

 

[dottlejockey]

I currently have accumulated enough of these over the last couple years to dedicate an area of the shelving system to them. These are the current ones i'm happy to smoke on a regular basis.



Right to left:
Peretti Party - the blend i discussed above.
Blend #1 from 2022, revamped this year from a Vaper to a BVP - much better.
Orientashun - my house oriental blend.
The Massive Mutt - began as a solera blend (#2) of randoms and landed on a favorable mix, so it's now static.
Pease Punch - a blend of VAs with Kentucky and a kick of Rustica for added "punch."
Blend #3 (2022) - matured, red and stoved VAs with maryland, izmir and dry Nicaraguan cigar leaf which were packing elements in some cigars i bought that year, with some McClelland X-40 for a burley undertone.

 

[1stPersonSmoker]

Interesting maths...
I'm guessing you mean
2 parts PS LTF
3 parts Sutliff
1 part cig leaf

It's been quite a long time since i've had LTF.

Interesting maths...
I'm guessing you mean
2 parts PS LTF
3 parts Sutliff
1 part cig leaf

It's been quite a long time since i've had LTF.

My bad, lol, yeah it's half LTF, 7/16ths Sutliff and 1/16th Cigar leaf